From as far back as I could remember travel was my goal in life. This is not to say that I was not interested in personal relationships, or having a family, or pursuing the craft that made me happiest – writing; but I always felt that I could do all of these things within the parameters of travel. At the very least, I never felt like I would have to sacrifice any one of those things for the other. I suppose in many ways my positive outlook in this regard was a self-fulfilling prophecy. I did pursue writing as a career and while I did not write books I was gainfully employed in producing a variety of content across an extensive field of industries. And I married and had a family. But I never stopped traveling. In fact, my family has made it a priority in our lives and so we always kept our living expenses well within our means so that we could afford to see the world. I never lived in a big house or drove the fanciest of cars but we could always hop on an airplane – with some advance planning – and see a country that interested us. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Over the years I have combined my love of travel and writing and put together a travel journal of some of the places that my family has visited together. It’s informative in its ability to deliver very specific tips on traveling to particular destinations with kids in tow; but also autobiographical as I tell of my experience of seeing a particular place with my family. Sometimes I will have traveled somewhere once as a young adult – alone and single – and later, when I returned to that same destination with my children I am astounded at how differently I see it. All of these observations and more I included in my book.

Once it was complete I considered book publishers and ultimately decided to pursue self publishing; it just seemed like the natural next step. I’ll tell you about my experience with self publishing in the next post.

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In the last post we talked about the importance of marketing your business regardless of your industry. Without consistent marketing, companies have no chance of promoting their products and services to their target audience and generating enough of a buzz to inspire people to make a purchase.

As we discussed, writers are charged with marketing themselves in order to market their product. If they have not previously been published and are interested in working with a book publisher they have a significant challenge in terms of garnering their interest; enough so that they will feel confident in backing the author and their work and spending money in marketing both. To do just this book publishers must have confidence that they will receive a good enough return on their investment. Further, typically, book publishers will not review work by authors who are not already represented by a literary agent; signaling that a professional in the industry already has confidence in the work, as well as the author.

When book publishing in the traditional sense is not an option, or an author is not able to find representation through a literary agent, they may choose self publishing as an option for printing their book – a phenomenal option for self promotion.

Self publishing is a legitimate option in the world of book publishing; and one that has only flourished over the years as it has become a more convenient process through the Internet. Self publishing is completely within the control of the author; the best services have websites where a writer’s work can be uploaded and where they can make all the choices for their book that would normally be undertaken in a traditional book publishing house.

Once their book is printed – to their specifications and in the quantities they have chosen – authors can market their own work in order to promote their name and generate interest among their audience and even traditional book publishers that may choose to support the book going forward.

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No matter what business you happen to be involved in, marketing is always a significant component in making sure that the products and services that you offer are introduced to your target audience. Perception is reality in the world of marketing and companies in all industries will go to great lengths to ensure that they are perceived in a particular way in order to generate interest. Once people are interested they can be motivated to make a purchase; fail to get their attention and you are not likely to inspire them to take the time to learn more about your company, let alone what you have to offer.

When getting your name out there in order to raise the public’s level of awareness about what you have to offer is critical there are many ways in which to market yourself – regardless of your industry. Even writers, who are essentially marketing themselves – promoting their own name, must do their due diligence in order to get the attention of their audience.

In traditional terms, writers are promoted through their book publishing company. Book publishers who are interested in publishing a book will typically market the book in order to generate interest among the public and subsequently generate sales; the point, after all, is that everyone makes money in the deal. But the level of marketing that book publishers provide for authors and their books is very much dependent on the amount of notoriety that the author already has in the book publishing world and how much return on investment the publisher anticipates receiving on the sale of the book.

But often new authors – those who have yet to be published – are not given the opportunity to work with traditional book publishers and even if they are given that opportunity they are not provided the marketing support given to more well-known writers. In this respect, self publishing becomes an option that allows writers to market themselves aggressively and get the word out there about their work, which we’ll discuss in the next post.

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I have always wanted to write a book; not just because I love the craft of writing and not just because I have had characters, plots, and dialogue in my head for as long as I can remember – although that’s certainly a big part of the reason; but also because I wanted to deliver something special to an audience that would, hopefully, receive it well. It was never enough for me to consider writing something and then putting it away having been satisfied by my own accomplishment. I wanted to publish a book – see it in black and white and see my name on that cover.

I am not in the line of work that would allow me to take the time to write a book all day long and so over the course of many years I put together the stories that were in my head. While for a short time I considered approaching book publishers, in the end I decided to go with self publishing so as to be guaranteed that my dream would most assuredly come to fruition. I worried that going to book publishers would only stifle my enthusiasm and if the book was accepted at all it would be some time before it actually went to print. I didn’t want to wait and the ball was in my court.

I looked into self publishing some time ago and found that it was an easy process that could actually be completed online through highly reputable companies. I did my research and found a company that had a good reputation and a simple process that would deliver the final result quickly. In the end, it only took a very short time for me to complete all of the steps online that would start the publishing process; and in a few short days I had my finished book in my hands.

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My dream throughout most of adolescence was to be a writer. I envisioned producing works that received critical acclaim and were beloved by audiences around the world (of course my work would be translated into a multitude of languages) and were sought after by the highest caliber of book publishers. I thought that was how I would make my living and I would travel around the world for book signings and readings, only stopping to write my next book.

Life, as we know it, has a way of opening our eyes to reality and when I was in college it became clear that while I could certainly write my books – and even get them published –I was going to have to get a job that actually paid me in the meantime. I wound up working in public relations – a job that I actually really loved but the hours were such that I often didn’t have the energy to turn to my writing after the work day.

Now that I am older and have found a better balance between work and home, I am once again on the path to discovering myself as a writer. I have been disciplined about sitting down every day to write and am absolutely committed to publishing my book through self publishing.

It’s not to say that book publishers wouldn’t be interested in publishing my book when it is done but I am no longer in a place in my life where I much care. I want to write – as I have always wanted to – and if I find that my book is good enough for me at the end of the process than I will explore self publishing online where it is easy, convenient, and affordable to print your own book.

Who knows? If I think it’s really good – and worthy of sale – I may even print many copies and begin marketing my book to audiences. Who says you can’t have two careers?

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There are so many reasons why people have simply stopped spending money right now; businesses and households are suffering nationwide and we are all in a holding pattern of sorts as we take stock of what we need to do in order to survive the crisis. Businesses have had to be creative in their thinking in terms of protecting their assets and still getting their message out to prospective customers who can grow their business. And the more companies can do to offer value to potential new clients the more successful they will ultimately be at weathering this current storm.

Book publishing has long been thought of as a process only engaged in by serious fiction and nonfiction writers that have made their livelihood exploring particular topics. But who’s to say that, as a member of your own industry of business, you are not poised to deliver information on a particular topic as well? And in delivering that information you could perhaps offer added value to potential clients who will now consider you an expert in your field.

This is a tact taken by many business professionals who want to impart particular information about their corner of the business market and – at the same time – reach their target audience in a new and exciting way; through self publishing writers of said materials can do just that – forgoing the traditional book publishing process and printing their own work so it is in line with their own needs.

Consider the added value for customers who visit your website where they cannot only see information about your company but also link to an informative book written by one of your company principles and order the book for free or even a small delivery charge. There are so many ways to market a good book that delivers high quality, valuable information; through self publishing companies can find another marketing vehicle they may have never before considered.

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Writers come in all shapes and sizes; they are not just the glossy pictures of well-known authors with lists of titles to their name; they are the tried and true enthusiasts that have writing in their blood but have never been published or the weekend poets who put pen to paper when they have a few moments of time. Being published does not make someone a writer; writing makes someone a writer. But there are far too many of us who think that in order to be successful we need be published by some big and fancy book publisher; anything other than that is an unequivocal failure.

Self publishing has changed the tune of many a writer, however. For those for whom the thought of packing up their manuscript and sending it vulnerable and naked to the book publishing houses in the nearest city makes them want to pass out, there are other options that are more controllable and certainly more predictable.

Self publishing – often available online where they make the process of learning how to publish a book, even if it’s your book, most convenient and easy – simplify the publishing process and make it accessible to whoever wants to take advantage of the service. Writers in all stages of their career, in all genres, with an idea for marketing hundreds of copies, or the desire to only print one, can find solace in self publishing efforts that will take them step by step through the process.

At the end of self publishing, it is most important to note, you will have your finished book – often just within days – with the cover you have chosen, the binding you have chosen, and the quantities you have chosen. And, for those who have waited so long to see it, their name listed as author.

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Autobiographies are the sorts of work that are typically well-received when they are written by the rich and/or famous. We love to know the behind-the-scenes scoop on what happens in celebrities’ lives – or the back story behind our most famous icons. And when they write their story themselves – from their own perspective instead of their history being detailed and commented on from another source, as it is in a biography – we get to really feel close to the person in a way that answers most, if not all, of our burning questions.

Now we ourselves may think that we have quite the story to tell and that may be true. But the other truism is that people are not likely going to want to read our story if we are not someone who they know or can relate to in some way. An autobiography may be compelling, utterly well written, and completely current but if it’s written by a writer that no one has heard of it is unlikely that book publishers will take notice.

This doesn’t completely count out the option of writing and even publishing an autobiography; especially when there are self publishing methods that writers can pursue. With all of the many online options available to us today, self publishing companies have taken advantage of the opportunity to get in front of their target audience and give them the convenience of uploading and printing their book from the comfort of their own home – showing them essentially how to publish a book on their own.

For those who have penned what they believe to be a profound autobiography but are discouraged by the opportunities available to get in front of traditional book publishers, self publishing sites open up a whole new world of possibilities; and can put writers who are just entering the world of book publishing in the driver’s seat of their career.

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My daughter has always known that she wants to be a writer; something that her 7th grade English teacher has only validated by really taking her under her wing and giving her advice about submitting some of her stories to contests they hold for her age group. Under her tutelage my daughter has really blossomed and she continues to write with fervor on a daily basis. She has so many pieces that she has written that she decided that she really wanted to put all of her work together so that she would have a memento for when she is older and she could look back at her younger work and even share it with her own children one day.

At first she was just going to print everything off her own computer and assemble it that way but with some online research I presented her with another option in self publishing. I told her that she didn’t need to actually work with book publishers in order to see her work in book form; instead she could choose self publishing and put all of her work together under one cover; something truly special for a keepsake.

It was actually a very simple process that we did together. Through a self publishing site that we found – one that had received high praise in the industry – we uploaded all of her work in one document. Then, I helped my daughter choose the size of the book that she wanted, the type of binding, and even helped her upload a piece of her own artwork that she wanted to use as book cover art. We ordered extra copies for members of our family and then we approved for printing.

Just a week later we had my daughter’s first book in our hands and it was even better than either of us expected. This professional and beautiful piece will not only serve as a keepsake but will hopefully continue to remind my daughter of what she wants to do with her life and encourage her to push hard toward her dream.

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Writers come in all shapes and sizes and at all stages of life; we write poetry, non-fiction, fiction, and all host of other genres. We make our living writing and we make our living at something else and write to make our own hearts sing. No matter what kind of writer we are, however, if we have a true love for the craft, we can never stop doing what makes us happy. So it may come to pass that we want to publish some of our work – as a compilation piece that includes many of the things that we have written over the years; and unable or unwilling to seek the approval of book publishers we may instead choose self publishing.

I reached this place three months ago when I wanted to see my blog on paper. I had found an online outlet for my musings and considered it my haven – my home away from home where I could write about those things that were most important to me and what was going on in my life. I loved doing it and it was well received by those who read it and followed it. I felt like a real writer. And eventually I wanted to really capture this experience in a real book that I could have for posterity.

It was actually a really cathartic experience. I compiled all of my blogs in one central location and then uploaded them to a self publishing website that I found online – one that came highly recommended by past customers. I was able to specify how I wanted my finished book to look and order the number of copies that I wanted.

In the end I had the memento that I wanted – all of my blogs in one place with a cover that was my own creation. Now I’m really a writer!

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